Gaming University: The Soul Calibur Seminar
by AmadSeino
Summary: Some friends attend the Gaming University's course on Soul Calibur where they find out a lot about the Soul Series.
1. Chapter 1

Prologue: What is This Gaming University?

How would you imagine an academic programme, which is all about gaming? Would you love to do that? The whole idea sounds a bit crazy first, but it is not if we analyze the world around us. Today, the video gaming industry generates more profit than the formerly leading music industry, and it is still on the rise. Games are created everywhere, by everyone and for everyone. Casual gamers buy Angry Birds, some others play MMOs, while another group plays with Wii Fit or Kinect. You can find all kinds of gamers and games for pure enjoyment.

However, the old-school game design, with original ideas is getting more and more out of the focus. Most (formerly successful) series created some years ago have their new parts released each year, and they are selling well because of their predecessors only. Think about the Final Fantasy series, about Call of Duty, or the Heroes series. These games invented something new but they are not evolving anymore. Currently, it is not a problem for the gaming industry, but in the long run, fresh ideas will be needed so that the whole sector can get a new push.

That is why some very smart young scholars and professors created the Gaming University (or GUni for short) in 2005. Most of the founders came from MIT, and they decided to relocate their ideal university next to California State University. They did it because the Silicon Valley is much closer to that, and their idea was more related to gaming than to conventional research and development (which MIT specialized on). The university was a huge success, thanks to its originality and its good location. Thousands of students applied for the programme called "Creative Design."

The founders' idea was to fill in the gap between game developers and game designers. Since developers mainly deal with practical tasks and designers simply execute these concepts (the graphics and the system), there is no one left to concentrate specifically on the background of a game. That is when a creative designer comes into the picture. The emphasis is on the "creative" part, obviously. Creativity means – in this case – that the whole game is observed, not just certain parts of it. Creative designers may suggest the modification of story elements, character abilities, names, everything. Their task is to see everything in a game, to know every detail of it. What is more, they must create new ideas which fit into the already created game. That is the hardest challenge of all.

So, thanks to stable funding and good international relations (mainly with Japan and South Korea), GUni managed to gather 1500 students for its "Creative Designer" academic programme in the past 5 years. As a private institution, it turned profitable in just 3 years and now it employs almost 100 professors specialized on different fields of gaming. Most of them are experts of RPGs, but there are some others in strategy games, shooters, or fighting games (especially from Japan). The median age of lecturers is only 31.5 years which shows how young and talented they are.

In our story, we will have the chance to get a glimpse of how some of the students try and earn their 180 credits in Creative Design, and therefore receive their special degree before entering the gaming industry. The story will focus on a special set of courses which are about the Soul Series (Soul Calibur games).


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1: Introducing the Course

The assembly hall was buzzing as if it was filled with bees. At least 60 young (mostly male) students gathered around waiting for the show to start. Most of them were in their second or third year of their studies, and were planning to find some easy credits here. The "show" they have gathered for was the presentation of a newly introduced set of courses. This course package was titled "Soul Series Seminar." Not surprisingly, it was about the famous Soul Calibur series, which most of the students knew and have played with before.

In the first row, Martin and his friend, Adam, were arguing about the whole thing:

"Do you really think we should come and see this? I want to do some farming before the raid night" – said Martin with a bit of impatience in his voice.

"Calm down. This is really a course that was designed just for me. You know, I know Soul Calibur since 1999, thanks to my beloved sister" – answered Adam with enthusiasm.

Just before Martin could respond, a guy – who was about the same age as everyone else – walked to the podium and started to speak.

"Hello everyone. My name is Victor, and I'm the project coordinator of the Soul Series Seminar. As you all know, you are encouraged to get credits in all fields of video gaming including fighting games. I know, it is not a mainstream thing nowadays, and it has its centre in Japan, but hey, we also like these games, so why not play a little with them? But if you think that this series of seminars will all be about playing, well, I have to tell you that it is much more than that. The games in Soul Series combine three aspects that other fighting games cannot: first, it has a very unique and balanced fighting system, it has an interesting and broad story and background, and finally, it has history. Even though, stories seem irrelevant or boring in the case of fighting games, but it does not apply for the Soul Series. I am sure that you are going to enjoy those courses which do not include actual gaming.

The module will include four courses. Two of them are the ones for gamers; they are called Soul Calibur Practice (SCP) and Soul Calibur Fighting (SCF). These will be taught by Mr. Sanyo, who works exclusively with fighting games since Virtua Fighter 3 came out. The other two will be about Soul Calibur History (SCH) and Character Psychology (CP). Ms. Blueberry and Mr. Brown will be your guides on these; they are both experts in video game literature and history. The 16 credits you may earn can help you a lot to get your degree in Creative Design, so make a good use of them. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask me, I am willing to help at any time."

"Wow, did you hear that? 16 credits for this fun? That's almost 10% of the whole we need for the degree? That's awesome" – said Adam very excitedly.

"Yeah, but hey, have you heard of Mr. Sanyo before? I heard he is a maniac. He is a pretty normal guy, but if it comes to fighting games, he goes mental" – replied Martin.

"But still, I think we should give it a try. Come on, 16 credits. You have to complete six, good-for-nothing courses like "Project Lifecycle" or "History of Software Developers" to earn that much credit. And here, you can play with the best fighting game ever made" – answered Adam with some persuasion in his voice.

"It's easy for you to say, you know these games for more than 10 years now" – said Marin with strong disapproval.

"All right, fine. Do whatever you want. But I'll bet you that once you try one of the games, you will want to sign up for the courses. Oh, yes, best solution: you come to my room and try one of them. Deal?"

"Fine, I'll give you one chance to persuade me" – agreed Martin finally.

Adam and Martin were close friends since their first year, but they did not meet much previously. But, since their dorms were closer to each other this year, they were always hanging out together. Adam showed some games to Martin before, but not Soul Calibur. So, it was certainly a new thing for Martin. They got home pretty quickly, and without hesitation, Adam began to set up his old Sega Dreamcast to show Soul Calibur I to Martin.

"Hm, I've never seen this console before" – said Martin pointing at the Dreamcast.

"What? You must be kidding! I have this since 2001, I grew up with Dreamcast games!" – replied Adam furiously.

"All right, you know, I've always been a PC gamer, I know nothing about consoles, and I always have problems with courses on console gaming" – Martin tried to calm him down.

"Okay, sorry, I tend to forget about this. Anyway, get prepared for some new experience, because Soul Calibur will be something you cannot compare to any other fighting game" – said Adam. "Oh, by the way, have you played any fighting game before?"

"Sure. Mortal Kombat on PC" – replied Martin.

Adam sighed. "Well, it won't help this time, Soul Calibur is way too different, you'll see."

He turned on the Dreamcast.

"You must see the intro, too" – told Adam to Martin while the game was loading.

Martin was not flattered by Adam's idea of watching the intro, he was more interested about the game itself. But he found the opening video interesting ("quite impressive for a fighting game" – he thought), so he was eagerly waiting for the actual fight to come. First, only Adam was playing against the computer, he wanted to show off with his skills. Adam has played at least 500 hours with Soul Calibur when he was younger, thus he had no difficulties in beating the IA quickly. He used different moves and techniques with Hwang to show Martin how complex this game is.

"So, what do you think?" – asked Martin after the final opponent went down.

"Very good, very good, indeed – replied Martin. "I must try it as well."

"Sure, I have to go the loo anyway."

When Adam returned from his business, he was surprised a little bit. Martin was looking at the screen with mesmerized eyes. He was concentrating so much that he did not even notice that Adam returned to the room. He was playing with Kilik, but he usually failed after the 3rd or 4th opponent.

"How come that this game is so difficult?" – he asked.

"Um… you didn't change the difficulty level, did you?" – asked Adam.

"Nope."

"Um… then I guess, it was on ultra hard, you should change it to normal for your level" – said Adam, chuckling a little.

"Oh, I'm fine with this. You must learn a game on its highest difficulty, that is my policy – replied Martin."

Adam tried to persuade Martin to change his mind about this, but it was no use. So, Martin went on playing for a couple of hours, getting better and better every time.

After some time, Adam got bored, so he went for a short walk around the campus, and he left Martin in the room so that he can practice a little. Adam did not want to challenge his friend without letting him know the game a little. There is no fun beating amateurs every single time without having the slightest chance to lose. That is how Adam liked to play these fighting games. "Let Martin play a little, then I can crush him and feel that I'm good" – he was thinking like that. When he came back to his room, Martin was just about to turn off the console.

"Well, you don't like it then?" – asked Adam a bit hesitantly.

"Oh, just the opposite, this game is great, let's sign up for the course now" – replied Martin.

"Wow, cool, then let's go."

Adam decided to spare his friend's life for a little longer, since signing up for the course was a higher priority. But he knew that once they sign up, he will test his friend's skills for sure. They turned on their notebooks and registered for the course, which already had 35 attendants (out of the 60 slots).

"Can you show me how the game went after I was gone?" – asked Adam.

"Sure, I'm still up for a little bit of gaming" – replied Martin.

In less than two minutes, they were in another universe, concentrating on the game only. Adam decided to play with Hwang, while Martin chose Kilik. As Adam expected, his friend had basic skills in fighting games, but without routine, he lacked vital moves, such as guarding and using space (8-way-run). Thus, Adam defeated his friend quickly.

"If you want to beat me in this, you must practice 3 hours each day like I did when I was a kid" – said Adam, teasing his friend.

"Three hours only? You know how much I played with Diablo 2 online when I was young? Hm, let's see… 15-16 hours a day? I was doing it for more than 2 years" – answered Martin with a little smirk on his face.

"Wow, hold on!" – gasped Adam. "Are you saying that you played Diablo 2 before World of Warcraft? Then now I understand why you are so good at it."

"I'm born to be a gamer, that's why I'm here at GUni" – said Martin.

"So, you started to play on your own without your parents socializing you that way? – asked Adam. "Because I was influenced by my mother, she bought a NES clone in 1994 and I'm playing games ever since."

"Oh, it wasn't like that for me. I have an elder brother, you know, he was the perfect influence. What he liked and played with, I also tried, so it went very smoothly to become an addict" – told Martin while smiling.

"Yeah, true, my sister had an effect on me as I already told you, but it seems it wasn't that crucial compared to yours."

"And why did you apply for GUni?" – asked Martin, changing the subject a little bit.

"Well, that is a good question. I wasn't as dedicated as you were, it seems, I wanted to study sociology first. But somehow, when I wanted to measure and estimate the future impact of my degree, I realized that something like this will be much better because of its unique nature. I mean, not many people can say that 'I have a degree in Creative Design.' It sounds cool, I must say." – explained Adam.

"I think you made the right choice" – said Martin.

"Okay, so you want to practice for another few hours?" – asked Adam, returning to their original discussion. "I must meet an old friend of mine. You can play while I am gone."

"Sure, I'll be fine" – nodded Martin.

Adam went for a short walk again, but this time outside the campus. His high school friend (called Steve) was also a big gamer, he was an expert of the Pokémon series. But – as they didn't meet for almost a year – they had other things to discuss. One of these things was their studies, of course.

"So, you decided to go for chemical engineering, right? – asked Adam, as he remembered that Steve was aiming for something like that.

"Nope, I gave up on that last year, I joined GUni this year, I'm a freshman now – replied Steve with a big smile on his face.

"No way! You are joking. That's awesome! Why didn't you tell me before? – Adam was still shocked.

"Well, you didn't ask, and it is still the first week, I've just arrived two days ago. But now I understand why you applied for this university instead of going for Sociology."

"Yeah, it is pretty much my dream, you know. Games and creativity combined together" – agreed Adam. "By the way, do you want to sign up for a special seminar on Soul Calibur? It is mainly for second and third year students, but I think you can also apply for it."

"That would be great, I love Soul Calibur; remember, we played a lot in high school" – said Steve with excitement.

"Very good, then just search for the course in the system, you'll find it easily, there may be some spots left."

"Sure, I'll do that."

They talked about their last year a bit more, then started a long discussion about high school stories. One was about Steve getting drunk and crying out how much he loves his girlfriend, while the other one was about how Adam openly expressed his opinion on sexuality and sexual life, in general. They had a good laugh when they recalled these stories, but since Steve had another appointment, he had to leave early. So, Adam went back to Martin again. He noticed that Martin managed to improve his skills in the last couple of hours.

"So, may I challenge you? – asked Adam with great self-confidence.

"Sure, I'm well-prepared, you'll see" – said Martin with even more confidence.

Adam was a bit surprised by Martin's determined response.

"Best of five in each game, first to score three wins the match, okay?" – asked Adam.

"Okay, just let's do it" – replied Martin impatiently.

And the game was on. Hwang vs Kilik. Adam tried to play around as if he was playing against the IA, but he noticed that Martin is moving around pretty quickly with Kilik. Martin dodged the attacks so well that Adam could not even make a hit in the first 8 seconds. Then Martin went for a counterattack. Using Kilik's long range attacks, he managed to hit Hwang four times then he won the first round.

"Wow, that is impressive! – exclaimed Adam. "But you will not get away next time."

To Adam's amazement, he could not get close to Martin even once and he lost the first game to 3-0.

"First to score wins, you know" – laughed Martin while teasing his friend.

"You wish" – said Adam with a bit of anger in his voice.

For the second game, Adam decided to play with Nightmare. He was thinking that Nightmare's stances can serve as something new, something that Martin doesn't know. Also, some time ago, he practiced only changing stances back and forth for at least 10-20 hours. It was hard work, but it surely improved his gameplay. As he expected, Martin was clueless about the whole stance thing, and he easily won the second and third game with 3-0.

"Told you, you cannot beat me" – said Adam while winking.

"All right, but don't forget, I play this game for the first time" – replied Martin.

Leading 2-1, Adam decided to give another chance to his friend. He chose Lizardman, his third favourite character. But Martin did not manage to adapt to Lizardman's speed either, thus the game ended with Adam winning 3 to 1.

"I must say, I'm impressed. I was expecting a clear 9-0, 3-0 victory over you" – told Adam with appreciation.

"Thanks, but I was really planning to beat you" – replied Martin. "But thanks for the compliment."

After this interesting battle, they decided to call it a night. Martin returned to his dorm (probably continue playing World of Warcraft as he usually did) and Adam moved on to another game. He was playing with Grandia 3, a very good Japanese RPG. He wanted to progress as much as he could before going to bed, but since he was quite tired, he decided to finish as quickly as he reached a save point. He was still a bit excited by the fact that he can learn about Soul Calibur.


End file.
